Amar’e Stoudemire has declined the early termination option in his contract and will return to the New York Knicks next season, reports say. As a result, the 31 year-old, six-time All-Star will earn upwards of $23 million in 2014-2015.

As most suspected, New York Knicks power forward Amar’e Stoudemire has declined to exercise his early termination option and will return to the Knicks for the 2014-15 season to finish out the final year of his five-year, $100 million deal, a league source informed CSNNW.com.

“He is opting in,” said the source that spoke on condition of anonymity because an official announcement has yet to be made. If he had chose to exercise his ETO, he would have become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Stoudemire’s decision is no surprise. He’s a shell of the player that signed a five-year, $100 million contract with New York during 2010’s free agency bonanza, and thus has every incentive to play out such a lucrative deal. Though Stoudemire remains a very effective offensive player, the money he’d have received on the open market pales in comparison to what he will from the Knicks in 2014-2015.

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I think he could have a renaissance since he’ll likely be the focal point or close to it assuming that Melo will leave the Knicks. He doesn’t have a lot of mileage from this season since the Knicks buried him for the most part. He’s not what he used to be athletically and he never did rebound a lot for his size but he could be a reserve All Star at this stage.